Unlike today’s designer sponsored sets the shooting mostly took place within the premises of the kitchen or the kitchen set-up would be re-created in a room perfect for shooting.
Viewers had to write in with their recipes and the lucky one would get to dish out the chosen recipe. While Kapoor’s kitchen gave a peek into the “professional” side of kitchen activities, shows like Ajker Ranna ( What to cook Today) on DD Bangla are an evidence of the camera travelling to the households and documenting the recipes from the homemaker’s hearth. They also discussed fondly the neat table top where Kapoor chopped his vegetables, and the latest kitchen appliances used in Kapoor’s kitchen were an instant hit, particularly non-stick frying pans and pots. When I asked her from where she got the recipe she said “Why Sanjeev Kapoor?” Sanjeev Kapoor’s kitchen tips were hugely popular among my aunts as well. In fact, I was surprised to find a recipe of ravioli in my mother’s recipe book few years back. Zee’s Khana Khazana was an eye –opener for many of us who depended on recipes from magazines, newspaper columns or recipe books.
Khana Khazana’s success as a cookery show paved way for the vernacular channels to have their own shows. We have been witness to the success of Chef Sanjeev Kapoor who appeared on ZEE’s food show Khana Khazana which is now a channel in itself hosting an array of shows on food and cooking. It would be really nice if some researcher works on this area. Instead a scene where Ila listens to a radio show on recipes kept me thinking of how food shows have changed on Indian Television. Well I am not going to review The Lunch Box. The film The Lunch Box is an account of dabbawalas (lunch box carriers in Mumbai), a wife’s trials to restore communication with her husband by cooking his favourite items and a heart rendering tale of Despande aunty who helps out her neighbour with her spices and tips J. A nice meal brings people together and a wrong delivery fosters friendship between two strangers.